"My Castle" Explanation Video Translation

[Jedi]

Curious. I don't recall saying either of these things.

I'd like to point out a rather obvious double standard here, one I've pointed out many times before. We are all basing our opinions off early impressions (though, at this point, we have significant information about the game).

If your early impressions are positive? That's fine. No one hounds you or asks for clarification.

If your early impressions are negative? Stop complaining! Play the game first!! Maybe the game will be good despite all the fair criticisms you make!!!

It's aggravating. I am breaking no forum rules and am perfectly entitled to make calm, reasonable, strong criticisms about this game.

I believe this forum features an ignore user option. Feel free to take advantage if negativity upsets you.

Your attitude and that nothing good can come out of If is the irritating part, if your criticisms were actually you know, valid. I'd have more of a reason to actually discuss stuff with you. Valid impressions on positive and negative aspects are both healthy, you are so against this game that you don't have any healthy criticisms at all.

[goodperson707]

The (underlying) attitude of if you disagree with me obviously you didnt understand my arguement and need to work on your reading comp dosen't exactly seem to encourage heatlhy debate either

[Neoleo21]

I like every feature of the my castle aside for the Face Rub because it reminds me so much of Suikoden (Insert Obligatory "Why Konami?") here. I'm pretty sure I won't have to use the minigame simply because the dual system inherently makes it pretty easy to get support bonuses even on harder difficulties. This game is no longer Fire Emblem if, it is Suikoden Shining Forceblem , which I'm totally ok with, though others probably aren't.

I'm fascinated by the Food mechanics though, more representation of a character's skills outside combat is really interesting.

[Florete]

Yes. I'm skeptical you read mine.

I specifically avoided a semantic debate about what "optional" means. I instead pointed out how the tired rhetoric of it's-just-optional no longer applies. People presumed My Castle would be a fun distraction with little consequence.

But it turns out it has major consequences. Forging requires you to play a Harvest Moon-style mining game. You can get quicker supports. You can get significant temporary stat buffs.

It is harder to ignore My Castle when playing around with it grants you significant bonuses. Strategically relevant significant bonuses. If I want to tackle Lunatic+ without limiting myself, I need to rub faces and run around town talking to units and mining.

In a Fire Emblem game.

This title is going to fracture the community far more than Awakening did, and frankly I welcome it. I do wish shadowofchaos would be a little less indulgent, though. I'm not sure anyone cares about his preference for "chill" veterans. Chill is boring. Sound debate is interesting.

You weren't successful.

So don't forge? I usually forget forging even exists in Awakening because it isn't that important. If you want to tackle Lunatic+ without any limitations, that's your own prerogative; suck it up and do what you need to do. You're complaining that you have chosen to do extra stuff in an entirely extra mode, a mode which probably isn't even available until you've already beaten the game once.

I don't think you've paid attention to what either Arvilino or I said. Yes, My Castle grants bonuses. No shit, we're not denying it. This does not mean it is required. You called it "must-play content." That is wrong. It is only "must-play" if you want to use absolutely everything the game gives you, and that is a choice on you as the player. More options being available does not mean you need use them. Have you actually never played a game that you didn't use everything it had to offer, especially an RPG?

You can dislike the feature and criticize it all you want, but calling it "must-play content" in any way is false. You're complaining about it being able to make an unlockable difficulty easier. That's ridiculous. If you're going to criticize it, at least leave it at how it panders to otaku and makes the game too easy rather than "Well, I'll need it to make the hardest difficulty as easy as possible." Because you will most likely be able to play through lower difficulties without it and not even notice.

I must also ask: Are you against the entirety of My Castle, or just one or two specific aspects (like face rubbing)? Managing the castle, so long as it's simple and doesn't require a lot of investment, doesn't seem like something to complain about. The hot springs and face rubbing I can understand disliking, but you're going to have to explain a little more if you're against the whole thing and want me to take you seriously.

I'd like to point out a rather obvious double standard here, one I've pointed out many times before. We are all basing our opinions off early impressions (though, at this point, we have significant information about the game).

If your early impressions are positive? That's fine. No one hounds you or asks for clarification.

If your early impressions are negative? Stop complaining! Play the game first!! Maybe the game will be good despite all the fair criticisms you make!!!

For the record, I'm not getting on your case for being negative. There are many others who are negative about certain things and I don't say a word to them. I'm getting on your case for having poor logic and misguided complaints.

In addition, I think it stands to reason that people with the same opinion won't argue with each other on said opinion.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Red Fox of Fire

[feplus]

You cannot look at "tone" or "attitude" and infer all sorts of things I did not say. I was specific in what I argued and what I did not argue.

The (underlying) attitude of if you disagree with me obviously you didnt understand my arguement and need to work on your reading comp dosen't exactly seem to encourage heatlhy debate either

No. I welcome disagreement -- it's why I spend time writing criticisms in the first place! Many of your posts (and others, it's not personal) simply misunderstood my claims, and it's impossible to have a productive conversation when your interlocutors aren't reading your arguments carefully enough to understand them.

@Red: Yes, I am complaining that getting the full experience out of the game, including relevant strategical advantages, demands I slog through Harvest Moon mining, cooking, bathing, and rubbing. This is not something I enjoy. I could simply ignore those features, but that would be limiting myself to avoid bad optional content. And optional bad content is still bad content.

You are still stuck up on a semantics debate that never happened. The problem with My Castle is not that it's required. The problem is that it's a surprisingly major addition that confers sizable bonuses. This is not the Hubba Tester. This is a fairly large slice of the If pie, and it tastes rotten. When evaluating the quality of the pie, I'm not going to ignore a rotten slice -- especially when it's infected other parts.

You also misunderstood the "must-play" comment. Please re-read that quote in its entirety; I explain it's must-play if you want X, Y, and Z.

I could stomach My Castle if it was a small inclusion, conferred no major strategic benefits, and wasn't full of creepy fanservice. It's failed on all three counts.

Edited June 1, 2015 by feplus

[Mr. Myrmidon]

You cannot look at "tone" or "attitude" and infer all sorts of things I did not say. I was specific in what I argued and what I did not argue.

No. I welcome disagreement -- it's why I spend time writing criticisms in the first place! Many of your posts (and others, it's not personal) simply misunderstood my claims, and it's impossible to have a productive conversation when your interlocutors aren't reading your arguments carefully enough to understand them.

People infer tones all the time whether or not it is logical or right. Because this is the internet and not a face to face conversation, people make assumptions in tone and intention that are often incorrect.

[Shin]

No. I welcome disagreement -- it's why I spend time writing criticisms in the first place! Many of your posts (and others, it's not personal) simply misunderstood my claims, and it's impossible to have a productive conversation when your interlocutors aren't reading your arguments carefully enough to understand them.

Truth be told, you're entirely entitled to the opinions you have, it's not like what you've said is completely incomprehensible. I'm actually much the same, I'm a little off put by what's been shown, but I fully accept it's a personal opinion of mine. However, I think it might be ideal to keep it a little more civil, currently you're coming across as somewhat hostile.

With or without these features, the game's still probably going to playable. I mean, you never needed arenas or skirmishes to complete the other games!

[omega zero]

I'm curious to hear the opinions of people who have cleared FEA's Lunatic+ without grinding, with regards to forging. I know that L+ can be cleared without using Barracks at all. Some players avoid it because of the random nature of the free stuff. From what I've read though, forging (and maybe that Renown second seal) are rather critical.

FEIf is a different game, so we'll have to wait and see how the bonus content affects the difficulty curve.

[Loki Laufeyson]

"I'm honored to be directly touched by you"

... That is a problem. I mean it really, truly is a problem. And I'm not even thinking of anything silly.

Thanks a lot for the translation though, people around here have really done a great job covering all this.

Why is this a problem? Kamui is a royal prince/princess who may or may not be an actual god or related to one. Harold there, is a vassal of the royal family of Nohr and would likely say the same thing to Elise if she patted his face. Given how your character is perceived by these characters, its absolutely justified as to why they would react so positively. This is likely why we saw this feature being showcased by vassal characters like Joker and Felicia.

Regarding th face rubbing thing, something I noticed is that its not something that you can just do for everyone at any given moment

Apparently, one could surmise it to be available for that unit once certain conditions are met, and is indicated by the heart. As for what those conditions are....

Indeed. I wonder if a certain support rank must be reached before this can happen.

I want to say thanks so much to Rey for busting his ass so hard to make this. I appreciate it so much and the video cleared up a bunch of stuff for me.

I do have a little bit of ;/ to add. Im ok with all of the features, but the way streetpass looks to be handled...im wondering now if we are getting split versions of the game internationally. That kinda bums me out.

[Jacien]

Thank you Rey for the video translation.

The most important thing I noticed with the StreetPass battles is that there is no exp for the Nohr version.

Also, I wonder what it means by choosing to recruit a character, not just the other Avatar. Were the names already mentioned here?

Also that red hair the one male Avatar has isn't bad at all. I might not need to hack my color in. :D

I've always hated how sketchy GameXplain is with the rehosting of videos to get revenue.

[Ema Skye]

Thanks for the vid!

Reaffirms my position that face rubbing disgusts me and will be avoiding this game avidly at launch. Really don't get why more people aren't up in arms about the questionable nature of the mechanic but whatever.

[Mr. Myrmidon]

Why is this a problem? Kamui is a royal prince/princess who may or may not be an actual god or related to one. Harold there, is a vassal of the royal family of Nohr and would likely say the same thing to Elise if she patted his face. Given how your character is perceived by these characters, its absolutely justified as to why they would react so positively. This is likely why we saw this feature being showcased by vassal characters like Joker and Felicia

I think that when these scenes are localized, a lot of dialogue will be heavily modified so these interactions don't come off quite so creepily.The touching itself was enough, but the things Harold and Felicia said were kind of disturbing...(even in the context you presented) Edited June 1, 2015 by Mr. Myrmidon

[Geek]

You know the game is going to be balanced around My Castle, Red Fox of Fire. Just like how Awakening was balanced upwards because of Pair Up and the ability to grind. The problem is that some people might want to play a Fire Emblem and not Rune Factory 5: Tactics Edition and will be punished for it in the main game since stats in any amount will give you an edge, especially since IS seems to think tactics means bigger numbers and nothing else.

This is veering into my own opinion and I'm not going to try speaking for anyone else, but my main problem with My Castle is similar to my problems with Awakening's base and menu management: it's neither tactics gameplay nor is it contributing to an interesting narrative. Tactics and story are the first bullet points on my list of reasons I play Fire Emblem. Even when the base got a little bloated in FE9/10, it was still streamlined and focused enough to not feel like filler. Bonus EXP? You get that for doing well and can spend it immediately. Forging? Once per chapter, make something and get back to the main game. Supports? In FE9 they helped flesh out characters which in turn fleshed out the world since the tone was more in line with the main game than PIES PIES PIES. They were also only gathered through playing chapters. Base convos? Similar to supports but more story related and in some cases were almost sidequest-esque, especially in FE10. They knew the base stuff was the boring part that players wanted to skip through to get to the real gameplay. Even if none of the stuff in the FE9/10 bases felt optional, they were quick, well designed, and unobtrusive. Some people want to play Fire Factory 14 and that's perfectly fine, but I don't. To me it's an ever-growing tumor that keeps me from doing interesting things. I've said for years that the best thing about Fire Emblem is its pacing, and Awakening added a ton of filler and If is adding even more.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Geek

[Mr. Myrmidon]

You know the game is going to be balanced around My Castle, Red Fox of Fire. Just like how Awakening was balanced upwards because of Pair Up and the ability to grind. The problem is that some people might want to play a Fire Emblem and not Rune Factory 5: Tactics Edition and will be punished for it in the main game since stats in any amount will give you an edge, especially since IS seems to think tactics means bigger numbers and nothing else.

This is veering into my own opinion and I'm not going to try speaking for anyone else, but my main problem with My Castle is similar to my problems with Awakening's base and menu management: it's neither tactics gameplay nor is it contributing to an interesting narrative. Tactics and story are the first bullet points on my list of reasons I play Fire Emblem. Even when the base got a little bloated in FE9/10, it was still streamlined and focused enough to not feel like filler. Bonus EXP? You get that for doing well and can spend it immediately. Forging? Once per chapter, make something and get back to the main game. Supports? In FE9 they helped flesh out characters which in turn fleshed out the world since the tone was more in line with the main game than PIES PIES PIES. They were also only gathered through playing chapters. Base convos? Similar to supports but more story related and in some cases were almost sidequest-esque, especially in FE10. They knew the base stuff was the boring part that players wanted to skip through to get to the real gameplay. Even if none of the stuff in the FE9/10 bases felt optional, they were quick, well designed, and unobtrusive. Some people want to play Fire Factory 14 and that's perfectly fine, but I don't. To me it's an ever-growing tumor that keeps me from doing interesting things. I've said for years that the best thing about Fire Emblem is its pacing, and Awakening added a ton of filler and If is adding even more.

As far as we know, My Castle is supposed to just be a fun distraction. The story seems solid enough on its own, too.(They've had three years to work on the story, so maybe they felt the need to add extra, optional features for extra appeal) Perhaps there is a way to get boosts other than My Castle.(Maybe My Castle is intended to be used as a crutch for extra resources if you have trouble with the difficulty. At least, I would hope such a lucrative feature would have some at the very least intended basis in balance.)

[Ownagepuffs]

Awakening was not balanced around grinding.

[Aquakat]

Thanks for the vid!

Reaffirms my position that face rubbing disgusts me and will be avoiding this game avidly at launch. Really don't get why more people aren't up in arms about the questionable nature of the mechanic but whatever.

Just wanting to note that in other games I've played, ones that focused on romance, face-touching was relatively common, ESPECIALLY once the couple hooked up. And... well, I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the Western World, but in many books I've read, there's a lot of 'caressing/brushing the cheek' and whatnot. And it's fairly common where I live as well. The DIALOGUE is a bit on the creepy side, not going to lie, but everything else falls in line with things I've seen in other mediums.

[Topazd]

Reaffirms my position that face rubbing disgusts me and will be avoiding this game avidly at launch. Really don't get why more people aren't up in arms about the questionable nature of the mechanic but whatever.

It's definitely been the most prominent source of outrage here, haha.

To jump on to the topic itself, it's been a while since Suikoden V so I'll welcome the other aspects of My Castle as most desirable. I don't even have any problem with the bathing stuff or other less questionable activities.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Topazd

[EJ107]

Regarding th face rubbing thing, something I noticed is that its not something that you can just do for everyone at any given moment

Apparently, one could surmise it to be available for that unit once certain conditions are met, and is indicated by the heart. As for what those conditions are....

I assumed the heart indicated characters who had already been "touched" and would not get further bonuses from doing so again. If I remember correctly the heart symbol was used similarly in Pokemon Amie.

[Tryhard]

Reaffirms my position that face rubbing disgusts me and will be avoiding this game avidly at launch. Really don't get why more people aren't up in arms about the questionable nature of the mechanic but whatever.

I think it's dumb, but it's not worth getting upset or angry about, because video games.

If this is a dealbreaker for you, then just remember the good memories of the FE franchise and stop caring.

[Geek]

Awakening was not balanced around grinding.

I disagree. There are certain points where the game's difficulty spikes upwards so drastically that if the game isn't balanced around grinding, it's not balanced at all. Chapter 5 Lunatic is a good example of this. Even if you do Donnel's paralogue to get the Rescue staff and have proper pairings and use chokepoints properly you'll still be overpowered if you're unlucky or didn't abuse Frederick in earlier chapters.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Geek

[Irysa]

Felicia: Somehow...it feels like I`m the one being taken care of.

.

Harold: It is an honor to be directly touched by you.

Joker: I will always stay by your side.

I think I'm going to be sick. I actually thought the Player Character hero worship was slightly less offensive in Awakening than it was in New Mystery but it looks like they've ramped it up even moreso in this game.

It's past the point of "you still have what you want there too", beacuse that's simply not the case anymore, the game doesn't have room both for subservient hero worship and truly unique, separate chars with agency. I saw this series growing and trying to give characters their own identities, goals, purposes, stories, and whilst it had many failings, it tried to have the player become invested and care about characters for being interesting and/or admirable people. They were meant to be people, not playthings. Now they exist for your own pleasure, not for themselves.

God.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Irysa

[Mr. Myrmidon]

I think I'm going to be sick. I actually thought the Player Character hero worship was slightly less offensive in Awakening than it was in New Mystery but it looks like they've ramped it up even moreso in this game.

I'm pretty sure it will be taken down a notch in the North American and European versions. Besides its too early to judge all of the "rub quotes" , as we've only seen three.(I hope to god the others are better)

[Cysx]

Why is this a problem? Kamui is a royal prince/princess who may or may not be an actual god or related to one. Harold there, is a vassal of the royal family of Nohr and would likely say the same thing to Elise if she patted his face. Given how your character is perceived by these characters, its absolutely justified as to why they would react so positively. This is likely why we saw this feature being showcased by vassal characters like Joker and Felicia.

Excuse me, but no. I don't believe most of the characters we've seen would let it happen, let alone be thankful afterwards. Kamui has them come to his/her room, alone, to stroke their faces and you're telling me they'd react with happiness and gratitude? Besides, it's not even about the coherence of it; unless there's an actual reason for this that we haven't been told, we have a characterization killer right there. I am seriously questioning the mere concept of making all of these characters seem like they're Kamui's pets.

... Unless you know, the narrative accomodates for that, which admittedly I'd be curious to see. Beyond curiosity though, that is not something I desire at all.

[goodperson707]

I assumed the heart indicated characters who had already been "touched" and would not get further bonuses from doing so again. If I remember correctly the heart symbol was used similarly in Pokemon Amie.

maybe but i personally doubt it as all the characters with hearts are at the top, which seems counter intuitive. As well as showcasing a character that has no benefit form it.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I think that when these scenes are localized, a lot of dialogue will be heavily modified so these interactions don't come off quite so creepily.The touching itself was enough, but the things Harold and Felicia said were kind of disturbing...(even in the context you presented)

Ehh, i dont find it all that weird or creepy, but i guess its just me. The localized version likely will be different in tone. Like a laugh or something not so overt. (maybe.)

Awakening was not balanced around grinding.

THANK YOU. Honestly, you do not need to grind to get through that game on any difficulty.

Just wanting to note that in other games I've played, ones that focused on romance, face-touching was relatively common, ESPECIALLY once the couple hooked up. And... well, I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the Western World, but in many books I've read, there's a lot of 'caressing/brushing the cheek' and whatnot. And it's fairly common where I live as well. The DIALOGUE is a bit on the creepy side, not going to lie, but everything else falls in line with things I've seen in other mediums.

Indeed. I actually have no issue whatsoever with otome influences. Im not sure this game has S supports yet since it hasnt been revealed yet. Im not sure if there is S supports and the localization will tailor the feature to S supports only. (unlikely) But you never know. I do think the localization will retool this feature to come off a lot less uncomfortable to people.